Trivia / Mr. Bug Goes to Town

• Acting for Two: Jack Mercer voices both Swat and Mr. Bumble.
• Amateur Cast: Stan Freed and Pauline Loth as both Hoppity and Honey, with this film being their only major screen credit.
• Box Office Bomb: Only made $241,000 out of its $713,511 budget in both of its theatrical releases in 1941 and in 1946.
• Creator Backlash: According to "The Fleischer Story", Max Fleischer considered the film a failure, even compared to Gulliver's Travels, and refused to even consider the film one of his achievements when he was interviewed in the 1950's.
• Creator Killer: The film's highly touchy production coupled with Paramount's harsh treatment spelled trouble for the Fleischers. Paramount foreclosed on the studio after it bombed, kicking Max to the curb and renaming it Famous Studios. Max's animation career was never as successful, only being able to direct one more cartoon: Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer (1948).
• Dueling Dubs: In Japan, in addition to the initial theatrical release in 1951, at least five different dubs of the film were made over the years - three for TV, one for a theatrical re-release, and one for DVD release.
• Follow the Leader: As noted, this film is different than Disney product of the day because it is set in a contemporary setting. But still, the musical sequence where the bugs sing as they set up Mr. Beetle and Honey's wedding plays very much like a Silly Symphony.
• Keep Circulating the Tapes: The only official home video release of the movie was a VHS put out by Republic Pictures Home Video in the 1980's, with no release since then. Finally averted in 2023, when Kino Lorber Studio Classics announced they would be releasing the movie in 2024.
• Late Export for You: Despite the film being loved and acclaimed by Japanese animators and audiences alike, its initial release there wasn't until 1951. However, it's had several TV airings and a DVD release there since.
• The Other Darrin: And how in Japan, where half a dozen different dubs have been made over the years. The 1979 dub for Fuji TV even stars Akira Kamiya as Hoppity.
• Referenced by...:
  • Super Eyepatch Wolf's video Why Cuphead Looks So God Damn Good includes a shot of Honey Bee when talking about the era of stylization that inspired the game's visual design.
  • Noveltoons: In When G.I. Johnny Comes Marching Home, a section of "Boy Oh Boy" is heard in the underscore.
• Schedule Slip: Max and Dave Fleischer had planned to release the film earlier in 1941, but pushed it to December on account of Walt Disney's Dumbo being in theaters. Unfortunately, this backfired as the film was released just two days before the attacks on Pearl Harbor, resulting in the film bombing hard. Even if it weren't for that, Paramount screwed them over by refusing to promote the film anyway.
• Troubled Production: Max Fleischer had a terrible falling out with his brother Dave during the film's creation. They were no longer on speaking terms by the time the film was completed. Its release also coincided with Paramount kicking the Fleischers out of their own studio and turning it into Famous Studios.
• What Could Have Been: Thunderbean Animation had planned to release a fully restored Blu Ray of the movie scheduled for a July 2017 release. They were unable to secure the rights from Paramount and Viacom.

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